Lewis takes control of the championship with his 2nd race win of the year and 8th in Hungary as his teammate falters and Max Verstappen pulls out a sensational recovery.
The champion hardly had to break into a sweat all race, with his pace being so strong he was double-digit seconds out in front for the majority of the race.
The finishing times may point to a different story but the truth us, such was Hamilton’s advantage out front, he made an extra stop at the end to go for the bonus fastest lap point just add to his already assured championship lead.
The grid hadn’t even formed in position when young Verstappen had his Red Bull in the tyre walls after sliding off the track in the way to the grid.
The race was to start with intermediates following a shower before the race was due to get underway, and the young Dutchman was caught out on the slippery conditions causing panic in his team’s mechanics
The Red Bull boys pulled a stellar job in replacing the front wing and added to that a rod in the suspension that was damaged in the shunt. Max duly repaid them with a lightning start up to third and then settling into the race holding off a fast-charging Valteri Bottas to grab 2nd place on the podium.
The Mercedes duo had started with a front-row lock-out but Bottas was lucky to get away without a penalty as he moved before lights out, causing him to get away from the line proper as he was swamped back down into the midfield.
(pic F1 twitter)
The Racing Points were yet again unable to show their potential with their strategy of starting on the mediums thrown out the window as the track was soaking an hour before the start.
Ferrari are adding tactical mishaps into the mix too as they put Charles Leclerc onto softs when everyone else was on mediums, the Frenchman unable to recover his race as he finished outside the points in 11th as the team tyre choice backfired on their prodigy.
Vettel didn’t fare that much better, dragging his steed up into 6th, but over a lap down by the chequered flag. Points are points, but this is turning into a nightmare for a team who expect to at least challenge every year.
Williams are again unable to put a full weekend together as they still await their first points. Nicholas Latifi was on course to at least challenge for some but an unsafe release at the pits put him on a collision course with Carlos Sainz, causing a puncture and a spin at turn one, ending all hopes of a decent result.
We head into a slight break from the action until we return in two weeks for another double-header, this time at Silverstone. With the pace on show this weekend underlying Mercedes not only have an aero advantage, as well as the engine, it will be hard to look past the two leading the championship taking the flag again.
Red Bull are further behind than they thought, and Ferrari are painful to watch, it’s still early doors, but Bottas is the last hope for a tight fight for this championship
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